RUSSIA & GEORGIA at WAR! Aug. 8, 2008. (part 1/9)

GEORGIA ATTACKED SOUTH OSSETIA LATE THURSDAY NIGHT. THE ATTACK HAS NOW ESCALATED TO BLOWNOUT WAR WITH RUSSIA.

Aug. 8, 2008.
"Russia and Georgia were effectively at war last night after a festering conflict in the Caucasus plunged out of control following a Georgian military attempt to recover its breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Tanks and artillery from Russia's 58th army were in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia's capital, to prevent Georgian forces attacking Russian peacekeepers and civilians, the defence ministry in Moscow said."

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South Ossetia:
The region won the independence from Georgia after the 1991-1992 War for Independence. In 2006, the de facto independent republic of South Ossetia held a referendum about the independence. 99 percent of the votes were in favor of the independence from Georgia.

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RUSSIAS WARNING

Aug 5, 2008.
"Russia will intervene if conflict erupts in the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia, a senior Russian diplomat has warned.

Special ambassador Yuri Popov said Russia would defend its citizens living in the conflict zone, Interfax reports.

At least six people have been killed in clashes in the region in recent days. "

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08, 2008.
Fierce clashes were seen between Georgian and Russian forces in South Ossetia, a pro-Russian autonomous region of Georgia.

"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," Lyudmila Ostayeva, a resident of the South Ossetia capital, Tskhinvali, told The Associated Press.

"It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged," she said after fleeing to a village near the Russian border, AP reported.

One U.S. State Department official called the conflict a "very dangerous situation" and said diplomatic moves are afoot around the globe to stop it.


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